Our February meeting began on a sad note with the news that John Palfreeman, one of our original Parish Councillors, had died. For those who did not know him, he was someone who always made sure that things got done; if MVDC or Surrey CC were tardy in their response to requests ( no change there in most cases ), he would chase until they did respond or, sometimes do the work himself. Perhaps the lasting legacy from him is the traffic island at the end of the coach road, on the A25, to Wyvale Nurseries, that Surrey CC eventually installed, for which many of us are grateful.

Those of us who regularly use the coach road will probably see further work being carried out on Betchworth Golf Club. In conjunction with the environmental officers at MVDC they will be removing some more trees which are either scrub or have died to encourage natural growth and indigenous wild life. Posts have already been erected along the bridle path leading to Punchbowl Lane to denote the boundary of the golf course. Mole Valley will also be clearing the pathway through Limes Avenue and reinforcing the surface so that they can get vehicles down to Betchworth Castle so that parts of it can be made safe.

The willows along Brockham lane have now been pollarded and we should see the benefits of that during the summer.
The detritus from the pond has been cleared for which we thank Mr Crate of Franks for doing this free of charge.
The seat in memory of Dr Newton was officially installed on 25th January. On a bright sunny afternoon his widow, Mrs Newton, accompanied by her daughters, cut the tape and duly sat on what is a very comfortable seat.

Your Chairman and Vice Chairman were invited to a meeting at Pippbrook where we met the Chief Constable and Deputy of Surrey. Among the facts that came out were -
Surrey is the third lowest funded force in the country at £89.00 per head compared with Cumbria at £130.00 per head and London at £242.00 per head.
The Government has cut back on the number of community support officers that it was going to fund, from 24,000 to 16,000. This means that in Mole Valley, instead of 5 officers we will only have 2.
Of the £200m budget for policing in Surrey, the Government provides just 32.5 %
However all is not doom and gloom Mole Valley does have one of the lowest crime rates in the country.

While on the subject PC Dom Lorraine has asked us to mention that someone has been seen in the Warrene Road area shining a torch into parked cars. It could be innocent but please be alert.
Dates for the diary -

March 31st results of the Parish Plan
April 17th Allotments meeting
April 20th Annual Parish meeting